One of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics is the origin of high energy cosmic rays. These were first discovered using an electrometer at the top of the Eiffel Tower in 1909 by Theodor Wulf. He showed that the radiation measured at the top of the tower (then the World’s tallest building) was greater than at [...]
Archive for the ‘Astronomy’ Category
Ice Ice Baby
Posted in Astronomy, History, Science, Technology, tagged Cosmic Rays, Gamma Ray Bursters, Ice Cube, Ice Ice Baby, Neutrinos, Supernova, Vanilla Ice on 10/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
Dumbing down TV
Posted in Astronomy, News, TV, tagged Astronomy, Brian Cox, Celebrity Big Brother, Cosmology, Daily Mirror, Horizon, Patrick Moore, TV, Universe on 24/01/2012 | 5 Comments »
On Friday (20th of January) I was called by the BBC in Cardiff to ask me if I would talk about the success of the 2nd series of Stargazing Live (this is a link to the interview, I’m on about 25 minutes into it), and also to summarise the events going on in the Wales [...]
Happy Chinese New Year (农历新年)
Posted in Astronomy, History, Nature, World affairs, tagged Calendar, Chinese New Year, Lunisolar, Moon, New Moon, New Year, Sun on 23/01/2012 | 2 Comments »
Today (23rd of January 2012) is Chinese New Year, so happy Chinese New Year to all my Chinese friends and students. Today, over 1 billion Chinese will be celebrating the start of the year of the Dragon (龍). From what I heard yesterday on the radio, many Chinese couples await to have children in the [...]
A moveable feast
Posted in Astronomy, History, Nature, tagged Calendar, Christians, Festivals, Lunar, Muslims, Pope Gregory, the Moon on 16/11/2011 | Leave a Comment »
Last week, the 9th of November 2011, marked the end of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son Isaac to God. Eid al-Adha started on Sunday the 6th of November (or Monday the 7th, depending on where you are) and ended on the 9th (or 10th) of November [...]
The birthplace of modern astrophysics
Posted in Astronomy, History, Physics, Science, tagged 40-inch, Astrophysics, George Ellery Hale, Refractor, The Astrophysical Journal, World's largest telescope on 15/11/2011 | 6 Comments »
Last Thursday (10th of November) I gave a talk to Swansea Astronomical Society. This is the 3rd or 4th time I have talked to them, and I was asked by Dr. Steve Wainwright to talk about the early history of the Universty of Chicago‘s Yerkes Observatory. I worked at Yerkes from 1995 to 2001, during [...]
The planets this winter (2011/12)
Posted in Astronomy, tagged aliens, Astronomy, horoscopes, radio, TV on 03/11/2011 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon I was on live TV talking about which planets would be visible over the coming months. Here is the YouTube clip of my appearance: There are 5 planets visible to the naked eye, those being Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Along with the Sun and the Moon, these seven objects formed [...]
